BSJ Playoffs Report: Bruins 4, Blue Jackets 1 - Rask, PK shine as Boston evens series in enemy territory taken at BSJ Headquarters (2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs)

(Photo by Adam Lacy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs

BSJ Playoffs Report: Bruins 4, Blue Jackets 1 - Rask, PK shine as Boston evens series in enemy territory

By Conor Ryan

May 2, 2019 • 11:22 pm

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Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets in Game 4, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

HEADLINES

Rask bails out B’s: Needed Tuukka Rask to finally steal a game? Here you go. Being frank, Rask has been money most of this postseason, with the netminder equalling his opponent in Sergei Bobrovsky with a .933 save percentage through 11 playoff matchups. But on Thursday, Rask stood tall when so many facets of Boston’s game faltered once again on the road. While Boston top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak finally broke through with three goals — it was still a pretty ugly game from Boston in the O-zone. Marchand was whistled for three separate minor penalties against a red-hot Blue Jackets power play, while Pastrnak struggled on Boston’s top PP unit after coughing up a number of pucks that led to a slew of shorthanded looks for Boone Jenner and the Jackets’ PK unit. Whether it be turning aside a penalty shot from Jenner with Boston clinging to an early 1-0 lead or stopping all nine shots that came his way during four Columbus power plays, Rask was money on Thursday night — and is the main reason why Boston now has home ice back on its side with the series deadlocked a 1-1.

NHL drops the ball, again: I try to not harp too much on officiating in these reports, but man — this fumbling by the on-ice officials and the NHL rulebook as a whole was just laughable. Less than two minutes after Bergeron gave Boston a 2-0 lead just 7:18 into the first period, the Blue Jackets struck — with Artemi Panarin snapping the puck past Rask to put the home team on the board. Puck luck goes a long way in determining team’s fortunes during the postseason, but this sequence was just brutal. While Panarin fired home a feed from Oliver Bjorkstrand, the puck actually was caught up in the protective netting behind the B’s net and fell back to the ice. No on-ice officials saw the puck go out of play, with the Jackets capitalizing seconds later.




It would seem to be an easy play for
Bruce Cassidy
and his staff to review — except they didn’t have the option. Because none of the officials on the ice noticed that the puck was out, the play couldn’t go to the situation room up in Toronto. 
As explained by Sportsnet’s John Shannon — video review would have only been put on the table if the
puck "immediately" was directed into the goal. I mean, I got nothing.




FIVE UP


Tuukka Rask:
This game could have unraveled quickly had Rask relinquished a goal to Jenner on that penalty shot. But Rask stood tall, and his teammates rewarded him when Bergeron fired one past Bobrovsky just 26 seconds later. It was just one of many quality stops for Rask in what was a crucial game on the road.


Penalty kill:
While the power play was a bit of a different story, Boston’s PK was able to rebound against a Blue Jackets’ man advantage that entered Thursday night with a 38.1 percent success rate this postseason. Columbus still had its chances with nine shots on goal in 8:00 of 5v4 TOI, but Rask also had plenty of help from
Joakim Nordstrom
5:22 SH TOI),
Zdeno Chara
(5:07 SH TOI)
and
Brandon Carlo
(5:01 SH TOI)


Patrice Bergeron:
Boston needed its big guns to step up on Thursday, and Bergeron answered the call — scoring his first two goals of the Columbus series while on the power play. He was also out on the ice for Pastrnak’s 5v5 tally at 3:33 in the first period. This stands as just the second time in 11 postseason games that both Bergeron and Marchand have been out on the ice together for a 5v5 goal. More of that, please.


Sean Kuraly:
Who else but the local boy? Kuraly gave Boston some much-needed breathing room at 8:40 in the third period, scoring at netfront (hey, would you look at that?) goal to put an end to any late surge from the Jackets.  Make that six goals in 23 playoff games for Kuraly.




Brandon Carlo:
Carlo continues to impress in his first go-around with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Along with logging 21:26 of TOI and playing a key role on Boston’s PK, the 22-year-old blueliner also put out numerous fires caused by misplays with the puck, including this sequence after Pastrnak whiffed on a shot at the point.




TWO DOWN


Power play:
Even with a pair of tallies on the power play, Boston still labored for quite a bit during 5v4 TOI. Before Bergeron potted his second goal of the night at 17:30 in the third period, Boston’s power play had only generated seven shots — and relinquished six chances — during its previous four stints on the man advantage.




David Pastrnak:
Yes, he got off the schneid by firing a puck past Bobrovsky just 3:33 into the game, but Pastrnak continues to struggle when it comes to puck control. He was only knocked for *two* giveaways, but yikes, it seemed much worse than that.


PLAY OF THE GAME






PARTING THOUGHT


Bruins have to be relieved that David Backes didn’t suffer a serious injury on this elbow by
Dean Kukan
. Given Backes’ concussion history, any high hit is a scary situation for the veteran.




LOOKING AHEAD


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